Why do we use plastics?

Brief history

Plastic materials were first used at around

2000BC.
Plastics can occur naturally in trees or even milk;
amber is an example (a resin from trees and
insects). Amber was used by early Egyptians to
make jewellery and is still used for this purpose
today.

Brief history
The plastic is one of the recent engineering material which has
appeared in the market all over the world.
The first stage of its development came when Scottish chemist
,Alexander parkes tried to duplicate the natural plastic by
mixing camphor and alcohol.
The second stage of development came when a Belgian
scientist prepared a product called bakelite , a thermo setting
plastic which was found to be hard and strong.
The last stage includes present trend and aims at improving
the old plastics ,where a substance transprent like glass and
unbreakable was prepared by an australian scientist Pollak
,during the second world war.
A strong revolution in plastic industry came during the period
of second world war.

Composition of plastic
Plastics are compounds of carbon with other elements such as
hydrogen ,oxygen and nitrogen.
It is basically a polymer(combination of more than one
primary chemical).
The carbon compound combines with itself and other
elements to form complicated compounds.

Polymerization
The process of converting a monomer(consisting of one
primary chemical) to a polymer is called as polymerization.
The properties such as strength, rigidity , and elasticity are
considerably improved by polymerization.

Methods of polymerization
Addition polymerization in this method ,similar or different

molecules join together due to opening of double bond .the

molecular weight of the resulting polymer is the sum of the
molecular weight of the reacting molecules. Polymers obtained
are polyethelene ,poly-propelene etc.
Condensation polymerization In this method the low molecular
substance are removed from high molecular substance formed
from a large number of identical or different molecules.
compared to addition polymerization it yields industrially
important by products like h2o , hcl etc. it takes a lot of time to
complete.
Co polymerization co polymerization is addition
polymerization of two or more different Monomers. many
monomers does not polymerize with themselves but will copolymerize with other compounds. Thus a wide variety of plastics
can be obtained by this process.

Classification of plastics
Thermo plastics
Thermo setting plastics
Elastomers

Thermo plastics
The thermo plastics or heat non-convertible group is the
general term applied to the plastics which become soft when
heated and hard when cooled.
The process of softening and hardening may be repeated
indefinite number of times, provided the heat given should not
be high enough to cause chemical decomposition.
It is possible to shape and reshape these particles.
The scrap obtained from the old of these types can be
effectively used.

Thermo setting plastics

Plastics which become rigid when molded at suitable pressure
and temperature are thermo setting plastics.
They set permanently and further application of heat does not
soften or alter their form.
But at temperature above 343degree Celsius charring occurs.
They are strong ,durable and hard.

Elastomers
These plastics are soft and elastic materials with a low modulus
of elasticity.
They deform under load at room temperature and return back
to its original shape ,when load is released.
The extension can range up to ten times their original
dimensions.

Properties
Appearance Plastics are transparent in nature. With addition
of suitable pigments variety of colors can be applied.
Chemical resistance The plastics offer great resistance to
moisture ,chemicals and solvents. the degree of chemical
resistance depends on its chemical composition.
Dimensional stability-This property of plastics favors quite
satisfactorily with that of other engineering materials.
Durability Plastics are durable especially thermo plastic
varieties.
Electric insulation-The plastics possess excellent electric
insulating property. They are far superior to ordinary insulators.
Fire resistance-Plastics are organic in nature and hence they
are combustible in nature. But poly vinyl chloride plastics are
non-in flammable.
Fixing-they are easily fixed.

 Humidity The strength of plastics containing water attracting

groups such as cellulosic plastics, is considerably affected by
moisture. The plastics which does not containing poly vinyl
chloride plastics offer great resistance to moisture.
Maintenance Is easy to maintain plastics.
Melting point Most of the plastics have very low melting point
and melting point of some plastics is only 50 degree Celsius .
To increase the heat resistance glass fiber reinforcement may
be added.
Recycling Plastics can be recycled and used again
Sound absorption The acoustical boards are prepared by
impregnating fiber-glass with phenolic resins. This material has
absorption coefficient of 0.67.

Strength of plastics
An ideal plastics for structural member has not yet designed.
Plastics are reasonably strong.
Their strength can be increased by reinforcing with various
fibrous materials.
The plastics can be used as tensile member as their strength of
weight in tension very nearly approaches to that of metals.

What implications do you think this has

for the environment?